The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Giving Tree
Book Review: A children's book that touched my heart
Summary: 5 Stars
When I picked up this book I never imagined it would have the affect it did. Such a heart-warming story about how love can teach you sacrifice. I loved this book and I think the message of giving and sacrifice should be taught to every child.Book Review: A children's book which never loses its power
Summary: 5 Stars
The Giving Tree is a beautiful book about a tree who loves a little boy. In the beginning, the love the two share is enough to make them both happy. As the boy grows older, his needs change and the tree gives him everything in order to help him achieve happiness. When the boy is gone and the tree is left with nothing, she is happy, but not really. Eventually the boy returns and the tree has nothing left to give, but the boy has changed and no longer wants anything from the tree other than the companionship they once shared, and both are happy once again.I fell in love with this book the first time it was read to me, and my feelings have never changed. As I child I knew it was a sad book, but I didn't know why. Now that I am an adult, I can understand the cost of unconditional love and I know why the tree was sad. The fact that this book inspires so much debate is a testament to the power of Shel Silverstein's writing. There is a lesson in this book and a powerful message. For me, the key point is that in the end, the love the tree had for the boy was vindicated by his return- older, wiser, and more appreciative. My mother bought me this book when I was young because she thought it had a poignant lesson to teach. My mother tells me that the tree is every mother, and that the sadness felt by the tree is the sadness every mother feels when her child grows up and grows apart. She says every mother's hope is that her child will return someday, wanting nothing more than to to sit together in silence and to be happy. Anyone who has ever loved someone enough to let them go will understand the painful choice highlighted in The Giving Tree.
I love this book and I give it to special people in my life to celebrate our friendship. I higly recommend this book to adult and child alike.
Book Review: A children's story for all ages.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is among my favorites from my personal collection of children's books. The tree is always there, generous and supportive for the child. It makes me want to be the tree for my family. (If anyone out there wants to be the tree for me I'm taking applications.)
The only reason I don't read The Giving Tree more often is that I can't without choking up. The story has all kinds of lessons for everyone. Especially (I think) about not forgetting to thank those who support all of us, sometimes in ways we cannot see
Book Review: A children's story without a happy ending
Summary: 3 Stars
"And the tree was happy." Those are the last words in The Giving Tree -- but the story leaves the reader feeling sad. One could say that in the end the boy enjoyed all that the tree had to give and the tree enjoyed giving -- so both were happy. Or, that the man used the tree to give him everything he wanted in his life, money, marriage, house, and boat. Still, in the book, the boy and tree spend most of their life apart and unhappy aand this creates a feeling of sadness in the reader. The written words say "happy" but create a feeling of sadness. On the surface, this is just a story about a tree and a boy who love each other. On a deeper level, the story could be a metaphor for most relationships. Mother, father, mentor, friend, sister, brother, wife, husband. In this story the tree is female and the boy never is referred to as a man in the story, even though he grows older. Sometimes we are the giver and sometimes we accept the gifts given to us. The happiest time in the boy's life was in the beginning, when he loved the tree back.
As the boy grew older and began trying to find happiness in things like money, marriage, house, boat -- he became needy and unhappy. Finally, at the end, the tree is only a stump and thinks he has nothing left to offer that the boy values. But the boy no longer needs anything outside his relationship with the tree. Boy and tree are together again. In the end, the tree is happy and the boy has what he needs -- a quiet place to sit and rest.
It is an inspired and disturbing story.
Book Review: A classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I have known and loved this book for as long as I can remember, and I ordered this copy as a gift for a friend. Even though she is an adult, and this is a children's book, she was touched by its message of how to care for someone and be cared for in return...just as I have always been. This book is Shel Silverstein's masterpiece.